I listened and learned a lot from him, confided Pedri, a 17-year-old Spaniard who has only been at Barcelona for a few months. Messi may not be "up to class" for a day, but he must understand how Pedri felt when recalling the early days of his career.
Messi, like many other top stars, cannot become a bright star overnight. They all have "good teachers" who are role models, role models and motivation for maturity. Of course, coaches are their teachers, but from another perspective, teachers can be teammates, the seniors on the pitch.
For Messi, the good teacher must be Ronaldinho. The Brazilian superstar has won glory in the Champions League, World Cup, Copa Libertador as well as the Ballon d'Or. Ronnie's talent is admired by many people and his mark was the one that helped Messi score the first goal for Barcelona.
He is the best player in the world, the young man Messi said of his seniors in his early days at Camp Nou.
Messi has Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo has Luis Figo. Sir Alex Ferguson may be the greatest teacher for Ronaldo and many other players, but the one who stood up and guided CR7 was Figo, who assisted him to score his first goal for the Portuguese national team at Euro 2004. They both grew up at Sporting Lisbon and enjoyed success at Real Madrid.
Returning to Camp Nou, many Barca fans may not remember the moment Xavi Hernandez came on to replace Pep Guardiola, but that was the time when the Catalan team found a successor for the current Manchester City coach. On his behalf, he really worried me, it was very difficult to replace him, Xavi shared, although later, they together created the most successful period in Barcas history.
At Real Madrid, left-backs have been a hot target, especially with Roberto Carlos holding that position from 1996 to 2007. Marcelo has been the next one since then, with a move in the 2006-07 season. When I arrived, it felt strange that my idol was there, Marcelo shared, I remember him helping me a lot and so I love and respect him very much.
Neymar is a special personality in the football world, with a brand of dribbling and reversal that make opponents lean. He learned that when he played with idol Robinho at Santos in 2010 as well as in the Brazilian national team.
In Germany, seeing Joshua Kimmich at this time, many people see Philipp Lahm's figure. Simply put, they have 2 years of experience at Bayern Munich, not only to impart experience at right-back but also to guide the former German national team when switching to the role of defensive midfielder.
In Italy, the connection between the player and the "teacher" can be seen through Andrea Pirlo with Roberto Baggio and Francesco Totti with Giuseppe Giannini.
Pirlo and Baggio do not play in the same position but the same romantic style of play is the connection when they wear the Inter Milan and Brescia jersey. Meanwhile, Totti admitted that when he was a child, he only watched Giannini play and extremely liked the way his idol played and moved.
Also not in the same position, Carlos Tevez always looks to Juan Roman Riquelme as a source of inspiration for his career. In 1997, Tevez was the young boy who picked up the ball and shyly asked to take a photo with his idol. In the 2001-02 season, they became teammates at Boca Junior.
